Qigong AF - Day 2

I woke up this morning with a neck that felt like it was being strangled by a vice grip. My neck was rock solid and the pain was radiating up into my head and down into my shoulders. I hoped that it would diminish as I started moving around, but that vice was being a persistent bitch.

I got my daughter up and ready to head over to a new juice bar in Vancouver on our way to her dad's place. The juice bar, Nekter, was having their grand opening with balloon animals, face painting, and $1 juices and smoothies (what?! - sooooo good). I figured that a good, healthy smoothie would help me feel better, so I was pretty stoked.

As I stood in the loud and crowded juice bar, waiting for my juice, smoothie, and ginger shot - yes I got all those because, $1! - the pain was so bad that I was getting nauseous. The ginger shot did help a bit as did my public display of self-massage and neck stretching. The roll-on essential oil mix that I keep with me for such body-pain emergencies also helped a bit, but my neck muscles still barely relented.

After driving for a total of 1.5 hours round trip to get my daughter to her dad, I was feeling pretty poorly. I came home, reheated some leftovers for lunch and became a Netflix zombie for the next 2 hours whilst sitting in front of the gas fireplace and occasionally nodding off. I kept thinking about doing my new Qigong AF practice with my new buddy Chris Shelton, but I was like, "Ugh... moving..."

I was eventually convinced to get off my ass after my brain told me enough times that 30 minutes of qigong might actually help me feel better. I finally dragged myself up and got Chris cued on YouTube.

As I began following the video, I did start to feel better! After 30 minutes of movement, visualization, conscious breathing, and meditation, the vice on my neck finally decided to let go! Amazeballs, right? Okay, we all know that is no surprise, because science tells us that movement makes circulation happen more efficiently and circulation helps relieve muscle tension. Yay for science and circulation!

So, now my neck feels better and I call that a win for qigong!

Unfortunately, now my knee hurts... Goddamn story of my life.